Me, I’m the latter but if it works for those who believe, why not? (I just haven’t run into believers who actually are productive though. But that’s just me.)

*applause*

Great blog, by the way. Just discovering it.

– Chuck

“Hell, if you call yourself a writer why wouldn’t you write?”

well, because sometimes life gets in the way, for instance when a relative suddenly dies. I am sure I am not the only person to find writing hard under those kind of circumstances?

Also there is a difference between only writing once a month, and taking a months break in your writing. They are 2 very different things.

My own experience with muses is that you don’t wait for them to arrive before commencing work – the very act of sitting down to write and cranking up the brain cells causes them to appear. I have found that I have written some of my best work on days that I started out feeling sluggish and unmotivated.

Working as a full-time copywriter, I’m afraid I have no choice but to write every day and thankfully, we have a wonderful quality team who help avoid any ‘bad’ days.

I definitely think we’re agreeing on some of these points. I think we should look at writing as a process and take responsibility for our work, which is backed up by some of the things you refer to.

Where we perhaps disagree, is in the idea of giving yourself a break, or more specifically, acknowledging that other things in your life may sometimes affect your writing and be more important at that time.

For me, if that happens, not writing is fine and doesn’t make you any less of a writer.

You said:
‘…they won’t be able to tell the difference in the words they had to drag out with pliers from the ones that flowed. And if they can — so what? That’s what editing is for.’

And I say: how very true! There’s no such thing as ‘Good Writing’ only ‘Good RE-WRITING’

Good reading (which is what we’re all aiming for, surely) is definitely in the editing!!

PS: That’s a quote from someone, isn’t it? Can’t remember who…